Source: All Weather Technology

Author: Yu Huiru

“GPT is a new industrial revolution, and its significance goes beyond the invention of the Internet and iPhone.” On March 25, Zhou Hongli, founder of 360 Group, said at the 2023 China Development High-Level Forum.

In his speech entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Future Security”, Zhou Hongli gave GPT-4 a very high evaluation: “It is already the smartest 'person' in the world.” He believes that in the future, every industry, enterprise, and individual will have a customized GPT.

Even, in his opinion, this is enough to pose a threat to the internet. “Every website has an API open to him, which means it has hands and feet to control every website. When artificial intelligence is overcome, it means that the entire Internet will have a big problem.”

In the early morning of March 24, OpenAI announced that it would use a third-party plug-in as an intermediary to enable ChatGPT to access other websites and obtain real-time information. In other words, OpenAI connected ChatGPT to the internet.

At the same time, OpenAI has also opened up two of its own plug-ins: a web browser and a code interpreter, and has open-sourced the code of a knowledge base search plug-in to enable developers to host information on their own.

Prior to that, ChatGPT could only extract information from training data, but this training data was only updated until September 2021, so its answers were not time-sensitive. After connecting to the Internet, the question of the timeliness of response information was effectively solved.

In response to OpenAI's move, Nvidia AI scientist Jim Fan said on his personal social networking platform: If the launch of ChatGPT was the “advent of the iPhone,” then today (the launch of the plug-in function) is the “iOS App Store” event. In a later tweet, he claimed that the “App Store” was just the beginning, that OpenAI's master plan was to make “an app that has everything,” and that day will come soon.

Li Changliang, a former vice president and head of the artificial intelligence division of Jinshan Software and an entrepreneur in the AI field, told All Weather Technology that the advent of the OpenAI plug-in will definitely bring developers the same opportunities to make money in the early days of Apple, and even “greater opportunities” than at that time.

This shows that a large number of applications will definitely appear on the “App Store” established by OpenAI.

There is no doubt that this past week belongs to AIGC.

In addition to the news of the iterative update of ChatGPT, Google also made a big move: officially open Bard's public beta to compete with ChatGPT. In addition, Nvidia launched various AI platforms and services at the GTC Conference (GPU Technology Conference) to promote the commercialization of AIGC.

Opportunities for developers

OpenAI refers to the plug-in store as ChatGPT's “eyes and ears”, so that it can complete the search for real-time information on the Internet or specialized information in specific segments.

According to the official website, the specific functions of the first batch of plug-ins that can be used include recommending restaurants, hotel flight reservations, online shopping, corporate offices, legal knowledge, professional Q&A, language teaching, etc. It includes almost all areas of people's daily lives, such as clothing, food, housing, travel, work, and study.

However, having ChatGPT act on the user's behalf has some security issues. OpenAI is also aware of this issue, emphasized this in its announcement, and has taken a series of measures:

The scope of users using this plug-in is limited to retrieving information, not including “transactional operations”, such as form submission; the Bing search API used inherits the reliability and authenticity of Microsoft's information source; displaying the source, etc.

Also, OpenAI limits the number of people who can access the plug-in. First, priority is given to a small number of developers and ChatGPT Plus users. Users who want to use this new feature need to join the waitlist.

What opportunities will the launch of the OpenAI plug-in bring?

A number of entrepreneurs in the AI field told All Weather Technology that a large number of applications will definitely appear on the “App Store” established by OpenAI.

“It will give developers an opportunity to make money. However, unlike Apple's early business model, Apple is a relatively closed ecosystem, and OpenAI is relatively open, so developers can use OpenAI's capabilities to enhance their existing products and services.” An entrepreneur in the AIGC field said that OpenAI is more friendly to small groups of developers. Things that were difficult for one or even a few developers in the past can now be achieved.

Some companies have already applied for a trial as soon as possible, hoping to join OpenAI's “circle of friends” as soon as possible.

Ma Qianli, co-founder of Unbounded AI, told All Weather Technology that the company is already actively embracing the plug-in strategy. It was previously connected to GPT's external interface, and is currently actively applying for a waitlist. “I hope to experience and access it soon.”

According to Ma Qianli, ChatGPT itself will become a super application. “Like WeChat, connecting to other mini-programs will become a new application portal.”

So what types of businesses will be the most popular on OpenAI's “App Store”?

Li Changliang's answer was the content production circuit, such as marketing, consulting, etc., “closest to the first wave.”

According to another entrepreneur in the AIGC field, cross-modal businesses and general office tools will stand out, such as businesses such as text, pictures, music, and digital scents; office businesses such as three-piece office packages and email.

A few families are happy and some are sad. From the user's point of view, if applications and services are directly accessed through ChatGPT in the future, it may pose a threat to existing platform-based companies and customer service companies.

“What is foreseeable is that in the future, all kinds of efficient tools can be easily integrated into OpenAI.” The aforementioned entrepreneur in the AIGC field said.

AIGC Crazy Week

Over the past week, there have been quite a few “revolutionary events” in the field of AI.

To meet the challenges of ChatGPT, Google officially announced the opening of access to the chatbot Bard, which will be launched in the US and UK regions first. Currently, users in both countries can wait in line on bard.Google.com, and as the testing progresses, Bard will gradually be launched in other regions.

Google positions Bard as a way to “increase your productivity, speed up your thoughts, and spark your curiosity.”

Like ChatGPT after being connected to the Internet, Bard can also access current information from the Internet and has a “Google it” button to allow users to search on their own. Meanwhile, Bard can update itself based on network information and cite the sources used.

Perhaps because of a mistake at the previous press conference, Google's market value evaporated 100 billion US dollars a day. This time, Google is quite cautious.

According to Wall Street news, Google added a lot of responsible AI work to Bard, and Google also spent a lot of time doing thorough compliance tests on Bard before the public beta was officially released.

Before using Bard, users are required to sign a Terms of Service agreement. The agreement emphasizes that Bard is only an experiment and will not always give the right information. Meanwhile, the agreement reminds Bard of a possible offensive reaction.

Whether it's spending a lot of time doing compliance tests or using all kinds of warnings and reminders before, it all shows Google's cautious attitude.

However, whether the careful Bard can catch up with the “speed of light” iteration of ChatGPT and win the hearts of users is still unknown.

At a time when Google and Microsoft are at war, Nvidia, which “sells AI watermen,” isn't idle either.

On March 21, at the GTC conference, Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun unveiled a series of cutting-edge technologies and products focusing on cutting-edge technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and chips. The series of AI platforms and services launched this time focuses on solving the two major problems plaguing AIGC in computing power and industry scenarios. It is expected that they will greatly accelerate the implementation of AIGC and achieve commercial value.

“We are in the iPhone moment of artificial intelligence, and the impressive power of generative AI has given every company a sense of urgency.” Hwang In-hoon said.

Perhaps as Jim Fan said on social platforms, “App Store” is just the beginning; OpenAI's master plan is to make “an app that has everything,” and that day will come soon.

Editor/phoebe